Milledge Luke Bonham

Milledge Luke Bonham (December 25, 1813 – August 27, 1890) was an American politician and U.S. representative. He was later the 70th governor of South Carolina from 1862 until 1864, and a Confederate General during the American Civil War.

Early life and career Bonham was born near Redbank (now Saluda), South Carolina, the son of Maryland native Capt. James Bonham and Sophie Smith Bonham, the niece of Capt. James Butler, who was the head of an illustrious South Carolina family. Milledge was a first cousin once removed of Andrew Pickens Butler. He was a descendant of an Englishman named Thomas Butler, who arrived to the American colonies in the 1600s.

He attended private schools in the Edgefield District and at Abbeville. Bonham graduated with honors from South Carolina College at Columbia in 1834, and served as Captain and adjutant general of the South Carolina Brigade in the Seminole War in Florida in 1836.

Bonham studied law and was admitted to the bar, in 1837, and commenced practice in Edgefield. Burt supported the secession of South Carolina from the United States following the election of Abraham Lincoln as US President in 1860.

He resigned his army commission January 27, 1862, to enter the Confederate Congress, representing South Carolina from February 18 until he was elected governor later that year.

Dates of rank Major General (South Carolina Militia), February 10, 1861 Brigadier General, April 23, 1861 Brigadier General, February 20, 1865